One year's work, 2,000 pheasants safely reared and 1,000 shot. A documentary about the annual cycle of a keeper's life on a Wessex farm, joining his life while he rears the chicks, turns them into free-flying wild birds, but persuades them not to stray, protects them from their natural enemies like foxes and poachers, and finally drives them towards the guns.
The keepers: Don Ibberson began keeping in 1965; Jack Lewis began keeping in 1921; Viv Townsend began keeping in 1907. Narrator PETER FRANCE
Director MICHAEL CROUCHER
BBC Bristol